West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-04-29
THE PRINTING OFFICE OF 1929
AND THAT OF 1887.
What are the Chances for Printers Tai
ent in New York.
New York Standard.

New York the painting Of a print
ing office of the year 1929. A press
man is at work on Ramage hand
press. and about the room are seen
the appliances of that day for set
ting type, binding books and ruling
blank books. Perhaps all the plant
of such an office could have been
bought for $4,000, and the pressman
at work was capable, no doubt, OF
performing every process in the pro-
duction of book or newspaper.
The man who made this sketch OF
the office in which he worked in
1929 is still living. The walls of
the office of the typographical union
are not large enough to contain Il
pictorial gallery of the many
branches into which the trade of
printing is now divided, and pic
lures would have to be added CON
staDtly to depict the rapidly chang
inc processes in connection with the
business.
In 1870 the eight, ten or twelve
cylinder press used in the press
rooms Of the daily newspapers
was considered a marvellous
machine. To feed the cylinder
presses and the folding machines
there were then employed in Il daily
newspaper office in New York from
twenty to fifty persons. The press
nov used in such an Office feeds
itself, prints, cuts into sheets, folds
and counts the papers. The scores
of feeders who were formerly en-
plOyed in press rooms are now earn
ing and saving, in order to become
employers, in that indefinite haven
of those ousted b. machinery
'.some other occupation"
In the book printing offices the
presses Of the new make are also
capable of being run with less labor
and of doing better work than those
OF the style in general use twenty
years ago, New folding machines
and new sewing machines in the
book bindery are throwing girls out
of work and performing in day q
quantity of work that formerly took
up a week. In large binderies the
work of binding books is subdivided
to such an extent that an operative
working at the trade tolls for years
at q single subdivision Of it, such as
embossing, rounding, backing, cut
ting, pasting or sewing. Forty years
ago bookbinder could have set
himself up in business with $50.
To-day the necessary machinery for
a mOdeso bindery costs ut least
$4,000. In blank book manufactur-
inc, Improvements in machinery
have been made within ten years
that render it improbable for some
machinery constructed previously to
be worked at all. Ia other words,
the owner of small blank book fac
tory, operating with his old-style
machines, would lose more money
the more he worked, and if he had
the energy, skill and business tai
euts Of tiptop captain Of industry,
he would go TO ruin So much the
sooner. 1t would be rs if a man
were 10 start to ride on horseback
to San Francisco in order to save
car fare and put up at the highest
priced hotels on the way.
Type composing machines are in
use in half a dozen large offices in
New York. Whileitis a fast compOs
itor who can set 10000 ems a day, 4
team of three machine operators can
average 10000 ems n day if working
on reprint copy and not required to
change the length Of the lines. The
first cost of the composing machine
and its liability to get out of repair
stand in the way Of its general adop-
ton. but compositors generally take
it for granted that machine or a
process may at any time be invented
which will take the place OF hand
compositor in plain type setting.
There are establishments in the
city where nothing but prcsswork is
done. Scott has presses by The
dozen at work night and day, the
forms being carted there from nu-
meyous composing rooms scattered
about the lower part Of the city. 1t
would be a smart pressman who
could run off work on a single press
in a small office at as low rate rs
one of SCOTS presses can do it.
All who know anything ut all OF
the weekly press of the country are
aware that hundreds OF the smaller
papers are printed on one side in a
large city establishment and sup
piled to their proprietors at cost
but little above that Of white paper,
rs the same matter appears in
many OF them, and the advertise
ments inserted by the wholesale
house printing these papers repay
the cost of the work This class OF
newspapers are known 20 the trade 2s
patent insides' Within five years
another process has played havoc
among cOmpoSitors. Stereotype
plates are sent by express from scv
eral cities to the country press, the
plates being but the eighth of an